Driverless car companies

The City of Boston will expand its testing of driverless cars, according to a news release from the mayor’s office. The city has been working with self-driving car company nuTonomy, which has been testing autonomous vehicles in the Seaport since January 2017 under the supervision of Boston officials, after initially trying out the cars within the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Industrial Park. Officials said the testing will now occur citywide. “Continuing to test autonomous vehicles in a careful and methodical manner represents another step forward in helping us to achieve the vision for improved mobility that was established by residents during the Go Boston 2030 Transportation Plan public process,” Mayor Marty Walsh said in a statement. “If deployed thoughtfully, shared fleets of autonomous vehicles could offer the City of Boston the potential to improve safety on our streets, provide equitable connections to the MBTA, and offer a new source of mobility to … [Read more...] about Boston is expanding its driverless car testing program

GOOGLE has “no master plan” to ­harvest the mass of data that will be generated by its self-driving cars arm. The assurance from John Krafcik, the chief executive of Waymo, comes in the wake of the Facebook scandal, where millions of users’ details were shared with other businesses. Mr Krafcik said access to the ­information generated by those travelling in cars using Waymo’s autonomous driving technology was not a priority for the company, which is owned by Google parent, Alphabet. “Our aim is moving people around the world and that is very hard,” he said, speaking at the New York Auto Show the day after the company revealed a partnership with Jaguar to use tens of thousands of the British ­company’s I-Pace electric cars. “To the core of my body, I swear on my father’s grave, it’s not a priority,“ Mr Krafcik said. “ I’m not saying it won’t be a workstream in the future but at … [Read more...] about Google’s Waymo denies ‘masterplan’ to harvest data from driverless cars

Sections Skip to content Skip to site index The company says it will buy up to 20,000 electric cars from Jaguar Land Rover as it strives to put a ride service into operation within two years. John Krafcik, left, Waymo’s chief executive, with Ralf Speth, the chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover, at the New York auto show on Tuesday. Waymo will purchase up to 20,000 electric cars from Jaguar for its driverless ride service. Credit Joshua Bright for The New York Times Supported by ByNeal E. Boudette March 27, 2018 Waymo, the driverless-car company that was spun out of Google, has pushed farther ahead in self-driving cars than any of the automakers or other technology companies trying to pioneer the field. It has been working on its software, sensors and other gear for nine years. It has 600 or more test vehicles operating in at least four cities around the country. Its vehicles have racked up more than five million miles of testing on public roads. … [Read more...] about Waymo, a Google Spinoff, Ramps Up Its Driverless-Car Effort

Automakers can now start testing fully driverless cars on California's roads. According to the state DMV's new regulations that became effective on April 2nd, it can now issue three types of autonomous vehicle testing permits. The first kind is the original one it approved years ago, which needs a driver behind the wheel, while the other two could pave the way for the release of Level 4 to 5 autonomous vehicles. See, the second type of permit it can dole out will allow automakers to test fully driverless vehicles, and the third will give the companies permission to deploy them. While it may seem like California introduced its new permits at a bad time — Uber and Tesla were recently involved in fatal accidents while their self-driving technologies were engaged — the state approved the new regulations way back in February. The rules also include conditions automakers must be able to meet before they can get their hands on those permits. To be able to get permission to test … [Read more...] about California DMV can now allow fully driverless car testing

The New Yorker has a very long profile out today on Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, that focuses on his effort to transition the company away from the unseemly culture fostered by its previous leader, Travis Kalanick. Way at the bottom is a mention to this month’s terrible story involving an Uber-owned autonomous car that fatally struck a pedestrian. In response, Khosrowshahi offers up a wild admission that’s really worth considering. The March 18 crash, which left 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg dead, has sent Uber reeling in a way it wasn’t supposed to under Khosrowshahi. (At least that’s how his leadership style has been portrayed.) The company’s technology has been reamed by competitors in the industry for having failed to detect Herzberg amid a seemingly very basic task. Uber’s Volvo—operated by a safety driver that was later found in a video to not be watching the road in the moments prior to the crash—slammed into Herzberg at 40 … [Read more...] about Uber Wanted To Put You In A Driverless Car By The End Of The Year